Enterprise Season 3 Blu-ray full details!

Star Trek Enterprise Season 3 is due out in the new year, January 7th, 2014 in North America. With that time fast approaching CBS has now officially sent out the details of the Blu-ray discs and the revised cover art (it still basically the same, but uses corrected Season 3 images of T’Pol and Archer).

As we’ve come to expect from the Blu-ray bonus material team of Roger Lay, Jr. and Robert Meyer Burnett there is a new 3-part documentary charting the change in tone and direction that took place for Season 3 called “In a Time of War”. They also have an interesting sounding new feature called “Temporal Cold War: Declassified” which as the name implies is about the temporal cold war, it contains interviews with the writers and producers about what else might have gone on with the temporal cold war arc if Season 3 hadn’t changed directions. Plus there are new episode commentaries. Read on for the full details from the press release.

Star Trek Enterprise

Season 3

All 24 Exciting Episodes Presented In Spectacular High Definition, Plus A Never-Before-Seen Three-Part Documentary, When The Six-Disc Set Debuts January 7, 2014

HOLLYWOOD, Calif. (November 8, 2013) – The original starship Enterprise continues its historic voyage into the final frontier of high definition when STAR TREK: ENTERPRISE—SEASON THREE on Blu-ray makes its debut on January 7 from CBS Home Entertainment and Paramount Home Media Distribution.

Featuring all 24 episodes from the third season, the six-disc Blu-ray set also includes never-before-seen special features that are exclusive to this release: “In A Time of War,” a new three-part documentary, and a new featurette entitled “Temporal Cold War: Declassified.”

In addition, the Blu-ray includes bonus material previously released on DVD such as commentaries, deleted scenes from select episodes and archival mission logs for an in-depth and immersive viewing experience. With breathtaking 1080p high-definition picture and remastered sound, the STAR TREK: ENTERPRISE Blu-ray releases have received rave reviews.

In addition to all-new commentary tracks on select episodes with some of the franchise’s most notable names, the high-definition collection includes the newly produced “In A Time Of War.” This retrospective, multi-part documentary offers fans an inside look at the making of the series’ groundbreaking third season, which was the first in the franchise to feature a year-long story arc. In this piece, the writers and production staff discuss the complexities of plotting the Xindi story arc along with the development of the key themes seen in the show’s pivotal third season.

The collection also includes the exclusive featurette, “Temporal Cold War: Declassified.” In this never-before-seen piece, the show’s creators, cast and production team reveal details about the original story arc that was never fully explored; in addition, the group discusses how the temporal cold war would have ended if the series had continued.

STAR TREK: ENTERPRISE – SEASON THREE on Blu-ray will be available in 1080p with English 5.1 DTS-HD Master Audio, German 5.1 Dolby Digital, French Stereo Surround and Japanese Stereo Surround. The discs also include English SDH, French, German, Japanese and Dutch subtitles. The Blu-ray is Not Rated in the U.S. and rated PG in Canada.

The disc breakdown is as follows:

Disc One:

Episodes

• The Xindi

• Anomaly

• Extinction

• Rajiin

Special Features

• Text Commentary by Mike & Denise Okuda on “The Xindi” (2005)

• Archival Mission Logs:

o The Xindi Saga Begins (SD)

o Enterprise Moments: Season Three (SD)

Disc Two:

Episodes

• Impulse

• Exile

• The Shipment

• Twilight

Special Features

• Episode Commentary by David Livingston and David A. Goodman on “Impulse” – NEW!

On a slightly unrelated topic: Can anyone associated with the production confirm what resolution the visual effects were rendered at for season 3? I know that they were done at 720p for season 1 (and perhaps season 2)… just curious!

New CGI for S3 and S4 was rendered at 720p, as computing power started to get significantly cheaper right about then. However, stock shots of Enterprise at warp, etc. were reused from S1 throughout all seasons, so when you get a cut to the stock shot it becomes increasingly obvious in the later seasons that use high resolution rendering for new shots.

November 12, 2013 2:42 pm

TUP

First in the franchise to feature a year long story arc? Lol

They ripped of DS9 very poorly and still won’t admit it.

November 12, 2013 3:03 pm

windelkin

This looks like the best Enterprise box set so far. I can’t wait for those extras. Maybe I was in the minority, but I really enjoyed the season long story. I thought it was very well done. We were really getting to know each main character by then.

November 12, 2013 3:05 pm

Mikey1091

This is cool, but I’ll be a lot more excited when they announce Season 5. Of course it’s CBS/Paramount, and we all know how much they care about what Enterprise fans want, since they’ve done such a perfect job of avoiding the “Can we have a 5th season?” question.

November 12, 2013 5:07 pm

MJ -- THE GRAND RETURN !!!

Thank goodness that Enterprise Season III is out in Blu-ray!

FINALLY !!!!!

November 12, 2013 5:57 pm

Mike1964

@Mikey1091, I don’t know what you mean about their “perfect job avoiding the ‘Can we have a 5th season?’ question.” There’s nothing to answer. The show was canceled. The sets were destroyed, the actors were released. Could it happen? Sure, anything’s possible. But it’s extremely, extremely unlikely. For that to happen, it would have to be a show that (like “Family Guy”) developed a bigger following after cancelation. That’s not the case with “Enterprise.” The show is dead, and very, very unlikely to be revived. So I don’t think they’re avoiding an answer so much as having clearly answered.

November 12, 2013 7:58 pm

Chancellor Gowron

This is one of my favorite seasons of Trek. It is probably the best story arc they have done except, maybe, the Dominion War. If I didn’t already have this on DVD, I would definitely get this Blu-Ray.

November 12, 2013 9:19 pm

Gary Seven of Nine

3-The Dominion war arc was a very important part of DS9, but it was never one story told over an entire season like the Xindi War. The longest DS9 ever had a continuous arc was the ten part finale.

November 12, 2013 9:22 pm

Commodore Adams

Season 3 Enterprise, can’t wait. I like to call season 3 Archer “Space Bauer”

Granted I love the early episodes like First Flight, I love to see the early days of space flight, its why I loved Enterprise, what happened from the days of Space Shuttles to NCC-1701, we got that with Enterprise. But season 3 shows what humans can do and will do to save their world, when pushed to the limits, when threatened with complete extinction. People hate that about Enterprise, but you know what, its real. 300 years from now we might be kinder, more tolerant, but we will still be human and inside of us is the capacity for anger, hatred, fear, lust, vengeance, etc etc. And no matter how much we try to avoid or suppress, it will always be with us.

Its why I don’t hate on Enterprise season 3 – 4, or DS9 4 – 7, or the Voyager Borg arc, or the NuTrek regardless of how much more aggressive or action packed it is, or that the commanding officer gives a questionable order. Gene always tried to prove a point, that yes humanity will improve itself, but who we once were and who we will become with always be with us in the here and now.

November 12, 2013 10:24 pm

Joseph

I think it’s interesting that the Temporal Cold War special asks what would have been done with that storyline had the Xindi arc not come about. I think this is funny but when season three aired, I assumed that the Xindi (or the individuals who convinced them to attack Earth) were another faction in the Temporal Cold War. Or at least that’s how they were presented in “The Expanse.”

If I had been in charge of the storyline, I would had made use of the species/planet/people that were behind Gary 7 in the Original Series. I think that would have had possibilities if they had been another faction and perhaps set up why they were interested in protecting Earth.

Joseph

November 13, 2013 5:52 am

Damian

7–I wonder if he was being sarcastic. I don’t think anyone really expects a season 5. If for no other reason the actors are all 8 years older. It’d be hard to explain only a year has passed.

Enterprise started turning a corner for me with season 3. Season 1 and 2 were fine, but still to tied to TNG in style. Season 3 was a different course. Sure, it shared some similarities to the Dominion War in DS9, though as 9 noted, it wasn’t one continuous arc.

Season 4 was really when I started feeling like Enterprise was a prequel to the original series. That’s when it truly felt like they broke from TNG once and for all. Ashame it was cut short just as it became what it was intended to be.

6–Haha. Someone who didn’t know you better might really think you were excited. Seeing your posts on Enterprise articles is like seeing Ahmed post on Abrams-trek articles. We know you hate it already. Never knew why you guys bother aggravating yourselves.

I will say, Enterprise probably cost CBS the least to put in Blu-ray, since it was in HD to begin with. Probably just the cost of slapping it on some discs, though I give them credit for putting new behind the story interview segments, and not just copying over the DVD interviews. Unlike Paramount with STID, it seems CBS is trying to give the fans of the shows what they want.

November 13, 2013 6:14 am

Smike

@3 TUP: DS9 didn’t have a story arc spanning an entire season. There was a short one at the beginning of Season Six and the ten-part finale in Season Seven, but in between, there were dozens of standalone episodes and two-/three-parters. So, yes, ENT Season 3 was the first season-long story arc…

November 13, 2013 6:49 am

TUP

Splitting hairs. Berman hated episodic TV until he needed it to try and save Enterprise. Stolen straight from DS9 which did “war’ infinitely better. Season 3 is by far the worst season of Enterprise.

November 13, 2013 8:17 am

Trekboi

I still can’t believe they did the Special Effects in 480 Originally & that they didn’t up the resolution on any of them for bluray, not even the stock shots we seen in nearly every epidode.
Just those 5 or 10 shots of the enterprise in space would have helped nearly every episode a bit.
The 720 shots are ok but not a lot of them
Since they have done nothing to the episodes they could have done them years ago on bluray or taken a bit longer & upeed the resolution of the effects shots.
What really annoys me is they said originally that the “Chose” not to up the resolution on the effects because they would look too CGI & I believed them, the truth is they were being cheap with Enterprise unlike the Original & TNG.
I guess they thought they could do it cheap now & give us a “Special Edition” later with the upscalled effects at 1080.

I wasn’t hugely fond of the Xindi arc but it was new- season 4th mini arcs worked better.

November 13, 2013 10:23 am

Magic_Al

The one season of Star Trek I’ve never watched. In 2003, the same year the U.S. invaded Iraq, something I was disgusted with from the start, the last thing I wanted was to see Star Trek doing its own spin on having a 9/11-ish event then hunting down the evil-doers. I never found out if the story unfolded in a way I would have liked or not. I came back for season 4 after the whole arc was over.

10 years later I could watch it, but now I hold out because I like there being Star Trek episodes I haven’t seen yet. If only a new series would be announced. Star Trek belongs on TV.

November 13, 2013 11:07 am

LogicalLeopard

15 Magic Al

Although I won’t protest the 9/11 theme out of hand, because Star Trek does deal with contemporary problems, I will say that it wasn’t very inspiring. Probably because I never really cared much about the Xindi as bad guys. What was it, 7 or so different intelligent species that evolved in the same vicinity? That’s kind of fascinating….for a couple of appearances. Not as the main bad guy. Would have been more compelling if they would have used the Romulans, and then instead of relying on “Lets go punch the bad guy in the face” used some diplomatic wrangling and coalition building maybe. And what was with that initial attack on earth anyway? They sent a probe to what, wipe out a few miles of Florida? Instead of, I dunno…..Paris? San Fransisco? If they knew enough about Earth to send a probe there, wouldn’t they have programmed it to hit major industry or populated areas?

I think there were a few episodes that weren’t very Xindi related that you might want to take a look at. I think Enterprise would have better served itself if it would have avoided the whole Temporal Cold War and Xindi war entirely. Then it would have moved quicker to the quality stuff that Season 4 produced.

November 13, 2013 11:21 am

Damian

16–Agree. Enterprise did take a different approach then the Iraq War. It started off rough, with Archer taking questionable steps to get what he needed, but he ended up making allies instead of enemies.

There were 5 species (aquatics, aboreals, mammals, reptilians and insectoid, with a 6th extinct avian species). The initial attack was a test, and it probably could have occurred anywhere on the planet. I don’t think Florida was specifically targeted, that just happened to be where the weapon deployed.

November 13, 2013 11:37 am

Damian

But they were tapping into the 9/11 thing. It’s just in this case, Earth ended up making allies of the Xindi and was instrumental in their survival, so it ended much differently.

November 13, 2013 11:38 am

Lt. Bailey

So far Seasons 1 & 2 on BluRay have not let me down. I still own the 4 seasons on DVD that I bought at STAR TREK: THE EXPIRENCE at a huge discount and enjoy these too. The text commentary is easier (bigger) to read on the DVD than on the BluRay but what they are doing with the Blu Ray is fantastic with all the extra/bonus items.

@ 17 – It wasn’t Florida in-and-of itself. It was a big swath across the surface of the Earth which included passing over Florida, it cut all the way down and across to Venezuela. It was a test fire remember, it seems to have been a pretty uncontrolled burst, since it cuts a very awkward path.http://en.memory-alpha.org/wiki/The_Expanse#Teaser

November 13, 2013 2:07 pm

K-7

Oh my,

Enterprise Season 3 on Blu-ray!

It’s here finally! WOW !!!!!

November 13, 2013 3:47 pm

Son of Captain Garth

It doesn’t make sense to send a weapon halfway across the galaxy to have it fire randomly and hope for the best. Hell, the whole concept makes no sense. Think of these points: 1. So, they send a mini-weapon to the target planet so that it can destroy some buildings, kill some people and dig a trench. Why? First, you just warned your target without dealing a death blow. Did the Xindi think that the humans were just going to look at the damage and say, “Damn, that was one powerful tornado” or, “man, I’ll never leave the garden hose running like that again”? No, the humans are now aware and they’re pissed. 2. What was the point of the test probe? It doesn’t operate like the final weapon did, which was to explode the planet from the inside out by drilling to the core. 3. Why use earth at all? Of all the planets in the galaxy, surely there’s another of the same size with a huge iron core. Iron is one of the most abundant substances in the galaxy. 4. They were still a year away, and now the humans have time to do something about it. 5. The Xindi “solution” should have caused a HUGE causality loop: if the humans are killed, they won’t destroy the Xindi, which means their buddies from the future won’t be worried about the humans, which means they won’t warn the Xindi, which means they won’t build the weapon, which means the humans will wipe out the Xindi. 6. The planet earth is imperiled and Starfleet sends only one ship? Oh, and the Vulcans, our frenimies, don’t bother to send a ship because they don’t care if one of their few allies gets smoked? Oh, and what about that supposedly benevolent philosophy… Read more »

November 13, 2013 4:00 pm

Captain Dunsel

From the press release: “The original starship Enterprise continues its historic voyage into the final frontier…”

Um – the “original” starship Enterprise? Not so! The “first”, maybe. But the ORIGINAL is still the one designed by Matt Jeffries.

November 13, 2013 4:10 pm

Optimus4

@24 spot on buddy. You were actually being nice. The whole thing was stupid. I watched, I enjoyed because I love my trek but this wasn’t really that good. I loved watching reruns late at night but in no way did I plan my day around this show.

November 13, 2013 8:26 pm

The Keeper

I’ll pass on yet another flaux Star Trek spin off series

November 14, 2013 4:08 am

LogicalLeopard

24) Son of Garth Points 1-4: EXACTLY! There’s so much that doesn’t make sense about the whole attack that kind of takes the emotional impact away. As I remember, Connor Trinneer did a good job of trying to sell it through his acting, but the whole time….I just kept thinking about one thing. I dunno who all remembers the short lived “Tick” cartoon. But there’s an episode where a villian called Chairface tries to laser his name on the moon. He gets the CHA on it before the Tick stops him. *LOL* But the hilarious thing is that in at least one subsequent episode, two characters are walking down the street at night during a full moon, and you still see the letters written there *LOL* So, I kept thinking, since this weapon vaporized land and let the Atlantic Ocean in, is there like a North Florida and South Florida in TOS/TNG/DS9/VOY? Do they call the part that got cut off from the mainland “Xindi Key?” *LOL* That’d be GREAT to see in a new movie. Point 5: Well, Star Trek always plays it pretty fast and loose with time. Causality loops only apply when they need them to. If they need it to break off into an alternate reality, they do that instead of the loop. Which is why having a Temporal Cold War in the first place wasn’t advisable, because you might have to either nail down details on how the whole thing works (possibly going against canon), or leave it vague and open to questions and confusion. Point 6: *LOL* Yeah, Granola bars would have been helpful. The Vulcans were such jerks in ENT. *LOL* I’m not entirely opposed to that, just stating a fact. I think Starfleet only had the one ship at the time, I… Read more »

November 14, 2013 6:39 am

Yanks

“In A Time Of War” – this sounds really intriging.

November 14, 2013 9:06 am

Damian

24–The test probe did use the same destructive energy burst the weapon did. They probably wanted to make sure it worked under Earth’s specific conditions. They probably had to test whether their vortex would take it close enough to Earth, and to time the weapon properly to attack Earth at the right time and place. They were recording telemetry from the test probe at the time it attacked Earth.

In reality, though, the test probe was done as a plot device. I mean, if there was no warning, the weapon would deploy and destroy Earth. End of story.

Re; Your point 6, as 28 points out, that was the most advanced ship of the time. There were no other NX ships ready to launch. Their other ships had neither the speed or capabilities as the Enterprise.

I do agree with 25. Better wording would have been “first” and not “original”. The “original” usually refers to the 1701. First Starship Enterprise would more accurately describe the NX-01 from a timeline perspective

November 14, 2013 9:47 am

Platitude

Glad they changed the box art from the original design. Archer and T’Pol look much better.

November 14, 2013 4:14 pm

Bucky

My S3 memories are vague as to how well paced (I do dig “Simltude”/”Carpenter Street” / “North Star” in the middle, though, they were fun episodes) it was but I do remember that the last 3 episodes or so really ramped up. I sometimes think this interconnected single season storyline was Braga and Coto trying out for a gig on “24” (which they got after Enterprise was cancelled)

November 14, 2013 4:27 pm

Damian

32–Enterprise was floundering so they decided to do something completely different. That sort of carried on in season 4 with multi episode arcs. If I remember correctly, I don’t think Coto came on board until partway through season 3, but I could be wrong about that.

Season 4 was certainly the best of Enterprise, but I thought they turned a corner with season 3. There were some similarities to the Dominion War arc in Deep Space Nine, but the Dominion War did not take up a whole season, it was more parts of 5-7. Season 3 was very unlike anything they had tried up to that point, and season 3 was really where it stopped trying to redo TNG. I don’t see anything in Season 3 that reminded me of TNG. I loved TNG too, but I wanted Enterprise to be different, and it finally was by this point.

November 14, 2013 6:17 pm

Damian

Similitude was a great episode, as was Carpenter Street. As a horror film fan, I also always enjoyed “Impulse” which I usually watch at Halloween, along with “Catspaw” from the original series and TNG “Night Terrors”. I’ll sometimes watch “The Haunting of Deck Twelve” on Voyager.

But “Impulse” with the deranged Vulcans is pretty good for Halloween :). The cinematography was a bit more unique and I’ll never forget T’Pol screaming during the opening teaser, it almost seemed like her mouth opened 3 times as wide as it should have.

November 14, 2013 6:22 pm

Hat Rick

I feel sad that Star Trek no longer has a TV show on the air and the cinematic franchise is perceived to be only “so-so” by Paramount. I mean, this is absurd. First off, STID a ton of money for Paramount, but because of incorrect expectations on the part of said Paramount, now ST isn’t as hot as it was only a few short years ago.

And there’s only minor buzz regarding a new ST TV show, whereas, ever since TNG came on the air, there was always a great chance that you could catch a neat ST TV show — until they killed ST: Enterprise. Now, there’s no new official production on the airwaves and no real chance that there’s gonna be one soon.

I dunno. I’m kind of depressed about the state of Trek. Even if they make Star Trek 3, which I’m 90 percent or more sure they will, I’ll still not be very happy about how Trek is doing. I feel less and less optimistic about Trek’s future, which is ironic, since Trek is about the future.

I don’t like the way things are trending, is what I mean. And I wish someone would convince me otherwise.

By the way, I’ve always liked ST: Enterprise as an idea and until about middle of the second season, I really looked forward to seeing it on TV first run. I’m glad it’s receiving the royal Blu-ray treatment.

November 14, 2013 7:05 pm

Damian

35–That was a debate we had a few weeks ago. MJ and RDR and others like them believe that Star Trek is still very much a hot commodity. I sort of fell in the camp like you, that there was a bit of a fall off in enthusiasm. I didn’t see the kind of excitement I saw with Star Trek (2009).

But I don’t know that anyone can deny that Paramount seems a bit less excited about the next film. They had a certain expectation that wasn’t met, so now it seems they want to cut back. That still may lead to a top notch movie. TWOK was wildly successful and that was done with a reduced budget.

But at least Paramount is interested, enough to insist on a 50th anniversary movie in 2016. CBS, on the other hand, is content not to do anything new. I complement them for their working with the remastered original series episodes, TNG and Enterprise work. But they don’t seem at all interested in developing anything new, and that doesn’t appear likely to change/

November 14, 2013 7:12 pm

Bucky

I would think CBS would be into a Star Trek series if they actually had a place to put it where they can get a profit! (Right now, I think they’re enjoying repackaging their old Trek materiel but they gotta get something new out there somehow, eventually.) It’s just, where is CBS going to put the show? Sci-fi is expensive and broadcast TV audiences are shrinking to the point where it’s not profitable to even make sci-fi shows.

There will probably be a new Star Trek TV series. Eventually. Somewhere. Once then bean counters can properly count their beans.

November 14, 2013 7:47 pm

Hat Rick

Damian (36), thank you for your nice response. I agree with what you said in your posting. I find myself less interested in participating in Trek forums than before so I really haven’t been following the debate you mentioned. I just find it too sad to post any more than occasionally.

I do value the Trek community and, of course, Trek itself.

I hope that this lull is just a phase and that there will be a resurgence. I love that great credo of ours, “Trek Lives!”, and I have no doubt that Trek does indeed live. Trek is still full of life and I have some confidence it will rise up to greater heights eventually.

November 15, 2013 2:13 am

Damian

38–I figure we’re still pretty lucky. Esp. for someone like myself who has loved all Star Trek. I’ve got 12 movies, 5 TV series plus the animated series, and I read the novels as well, which have continued the spin-off stories, so I at least get new stories. That’s a lot of Star Trek.

Bucky makes some good points. Star Trek done right on TV is not cheap. But the execs at CBS do not seem the least bit interested in pursuing a new TV show now. Maybe, when the Abrams team finishes with their movies, CBS might revisit it, but they seem content to just let Paramount do the movies and see what happens.

November 15, 2013 5:42 am

crazydaystrom

My dream is to see Star Trek done as pure balls-to-the-wall, mind bending, thought provoking, envelope bursting science fiction. The attempt to make it a blockbuster movie franchise ha a diluted the richness and potential sophistication of the basic premise. What TOS was in the sixties was a compromise between Roddenberry and NBC. The pilot ep ‘The Cage’ indicative of Roddenberry’s sophisticated science fictional intentions; the second pilot, the action amped up, pew!-pew!/punch-kick (but admittedly Shatner-cool) compromise.

As I’ve said repeatedly is I’d love to see a Trek show with a low budget (perhaps a VERY low budget, to minimize the monetary risk) but with a concentration and focus on the most interesting, compelling and boldscience fiction possible, set of course in the Trek universe. Get writers of science fiction in on the game and above all think outside of the box, for heaven’s sake! And keep the ‘cutesy’ to a minimim. Let Star Trek lead a wave, not jump onto one.

November 15, 2013 6:26 am

crazydaystrom

*has*diluted the richness

November 15, 2013 6:29 am

Danpaine

35. Hat Rick – November 14, 2013
36. Damian – November 14, 2013

Great points. And with the new Star Wars coming out, with Disney behind it and their money and marketing magic, I’m afraid this malaise is going to turn into ‘who cares.’ I agree with 40. crazydaystrom – make it smaller, on TV, and get writers who will make Trek deep, thoughtful and can’t-miss-an-episode television.

Even if Trek is a “hot,” (which I don’t personally think it is), commodity right now, it will not be for long with all that’s coming up in the Star Wars/Marvel universe.

November 15, 2013 7:38 am

Sean4000

Ugh…From 2001 to 2005 I ran my colleges VFX laboratory in new Orleans. This setup at the time included around 25 fully-loaded dual-cpu Apple workstations. Most of the time they did absolutely NOTHING! If I had just known John Gross, the co-founder of edenfx I’m sure we could have worked out a deal to give him the extra cpu horsepower he needed to render in full 1080p.

But i didn’t meet him until 2006 when the whole TOS-R fiasco started.

November 25, 2013 1:33 am

Cygnus-X1

I’ve just started watching Enterprise again from the beginning.

Seasons 3 and 4 were good enough to redeem the entire series and give added backstory value to Seasons 1 and 2.

Manny Coto was obviously what the series needed to right the ship. Had he been the showrunner from the outset, I’d bet Enterprise would have lasted 7 seasons.